A loaf and a block of cheese is not lunch for ten days

[ZazieSheHer]

So some of the free school lunch boxes contain very little food.

Marcus Rashford condemns free school meal packages

“...a package, supposedly containing £30 worth of food to last for 10 days, comprising just a loaf of bread, some cheese, a tin of beans, two carrots, two bananas, three apples, two potatoes, a bag of pasta, three Frubes, two Soreen bars and a tomato”.

mobile.twitter.com/RoadsideMum/status/1348646428084760576

Can’t imagine what it’s like home schooling hungry kids. Would like to say I’m shocked but I’m not.

@Backbee

The Government haven't chosen Chartwells as the supplier for hampers. Schools can choose who to supply them

I hope you aren't applying logic to this debate, where's the finger pointing towards the government (when this isn't on them for once), the frothing and the painting a picture of everyone who is eligible for FSMs living in some sort of Dickensian poverty?

It's on the government because they stopping the vouchers.

With the vouchers there would no profiteering ,sorry mistakes and investigations, from big companies. Because they wouldn't be involved. It's relying on someone else and hope they are honest,doing their best,providing best value with very little checks when it comes to feeding other people's children.

If it wasn't on Twitter and the public made aware , we wouldn't even know this was happening.

It’s awful.
I often cater for the scout camp. Budget is £5 per person for the weekend
so Friday supper (hot dogs, biscuits and hot chocolate),
Saturday breakfast - fry up (sausages, bacon, hash browns, beans, eggs, mushrooms and eggy bread) plus cereal option and veggie options and uht juice.
Lunch - make your own sandwich with option of grated cheese, ham, tuna Mayo, egg Mayo, jam with cucumber/tomato slices, fruit, crisps and a cake (disclaimer everyone brings a batch of cakes so that is not in the budget)
Tea - normally spag Bol/chilli or curry with rice/spaghetti, salad, Veggie option.
Pudding of cake and custard
Supper of s’mores and hot chocolate
Sunday - breakfast of bacon rolls, porridge and cereal
Lunch - same as Saturday
Sunday tea - chicken wraps with salad
Bowls of fruit are readily available

It’s about 80 people so economies of scale but equally the people doing the lunch bags will also get economies of scale.
I laid out all of the above portions/ingredients for 1 person it would look a hell of a lot more than the photos on the press!!

@aleC4 that is actually quite a lot less that Chartwells told the BBC that they are providing which I listed above but I'll repost the list here

Cheese (200g)
Six red apples
Four oranges
Four bananas
Two cucumbers
Four carrots
Eight baked potatoes
One lettuce
Two tomatoes
Four cans of baked beans
1kg of pasta
Four tins of chopped tomatoes
Two tins of tuna
Four tins of green peas
One loaf of bread
Three malt loaf snacks
Six yoghurts

I think that your school should go back and ask them where the rest of the food is. As should everyone else on this post who is getting parcels from Chartwells that are in some cases clearly far far less than what they say they are providing. It is disgusting that they have tried to get away with providing so little but then to lie about it and say that they are providing a decent amount of food when they are not is quite criminal.

I am sure the parents would have complained to the school or the governors and they would have investigated.

I seem to remember there were a number of posters on here during the first lockdown complaining about the voucher system , as the vouchers didn't suit them.

Our local schools didn't use vouchers as there were limited supermarkets in our area and many people live rurally. We used hampers instead, which most parents were happy with. There were some gripes, and where possible changes were made. If the hampers hadn't been of a good quality the schools would have changed provider/system.

@AccidentallyOnPurpose no they haven't. The guidance is that if they cannot use their current food supplier then they can issue vouchers.

This is government guidance for 5 days:

loaf of bread or pack of rolls / 10-inch wraps
2 baking potatoes
1 cucumber
3 large tomatoes or 1 pack of cherry tomatoes
1 standard tin sweetcorn in water
5 portions of fresh fruit (e.g. apples, satsumas, bananas) or 3 portions of fresh fruit and 1 tin fruit in juice (e.g. pears, peaches, fruit cocktail)
2 items from the following: 1 pack sliced cooked meat (e.g. chicken, ham or vegetarian alternative) or 1 tin meat or 1 tin tuna in water or 6 eggs
200g block of cheese or 3 cheese portions
1 tin baked beans
1 500g pot plain low-fat yoghurt or 3 individual serving yoghurt pots
1 litre / 2 pints semi-skimmed milk

They are offering uplift in the daily fee during this for schools to provide packages. Schools likely trust their provider to provide a reasonable amount for their students, which the supplier very very wrongly hasn't done.

I'm sure most people would love your Scout camp food Brie, sounds lovely!

@Backbee

You have no idea.

I lived through it, 2 meals a day if we were lucky, we didn't have heating let alone had to ration it, i didn't own any new clothes until I bought them myself in my first job at 14. I know. What I don't like is the painting of families on FSM on posts like this. They are normal people in shitty situations, yes many will be suffering with their mental or physical health, or will have been disadvantaged growing up which makes entering the workplace challenging and leads to chaotic homelife; but ffs it doesn't mean that the majority can't cook anything. Of course the lunches are fucking ridiculous, but so are a lot of people on here and the way they portray people.

I am sorry to see that (and sorry to assume).

But with respect, that's you, and while you're coming from a good perspective (ie not to put those people down) there are people living in dire poverty too.

Absolutely disgusting.

loaf of bread or pack of rolls / 10-inch wraps
2 baking potatoes
1 cucumber
3 large tomatoes or 1 pack of cherry tomatoes
1 standard tin sweetcorn in water
5 portions of fresh fruit (e.g. apples, satsumas, bananas) or 3 portions of fresh fruit and 1 tin fruit in juice (e.g. pears, peaches, fruit cocktail)
2 items from the following: 1 pack sliced cooked meat (e.g. chicken, ham or vegetarian alternative) or 1 tin meat or 1 tin tuna in water or 6 eggs
200g block of cheese or 3 cheese portions
1 tin baked beans
1 500g pot plain low-fat yoghurt or 3 individual serving yoghurt pots
1 litre / 2 pints semi-skimmed milk

I’d love to see our MPs presented with this for their lunches instead of whatever exorbitant daily allowance they get.

@Illy605 that is one example of a food hamper provided to English children. It is disgusting, but it is not within the guidelines.

No I wouldn't , but if Asda gave me a rubbish product id want a refund - I wouldn't be off to another supermarket to fix it for me

That’s a bit different to free food. If you buy a rubbish product from Asda you’re entitled to a refund (provided it’s actually faulty not just different to how you expected).

How can you expect a ‘refund’ for food you haven’t paid for?

@HikeForward

No I wouldn't , but if Asda gave me a rubbish product id want a refund - I wouldn't be off to another supermarket to fix it for me

That’s a bit different to free food. If you buy a rubbish product from Asda you’re entitled to a refund (provided it’s actually faulty not just different to how you expected).

How can you expect a ‘refund’ for food you haven’t paid for?

The FSM facilitates them 'paying' for the food. They are entitled to a decent standard.

If you had a voucher for a free coffee and biscuit and they made you a black cold tea , would you take it and say ah no problem as I haven't paid for it!

The school/LA have entered into a contract with Chartwells and so they should be expecting redress from Chartwells

The bread alone would not last 10 days!

@ineedaholidaynow

The school/LA have entered into a contract with Chartwells and so they should be expecting redress from Chartwells

Right...but who runs the local authority? Who implemented this ridiculous scheme after doing away with the vouchers and who is therefore ultimately responsible for this?

This food is obviously supplies intended for this term's school hot dinner catering, bought in and then surplus to requirements when pupils were sent home after one day. It would be hard to split into small servings at the best of times.

Late to the thread but wanted to add another voice saying we didn’t even get a quarter of what Chartwell say they’ve been supplying.
I am completely outraged. Thievery

Oh so they have brought back rationing along with the blitz spirit.

Could someone here please post an example of what exactly they think should be in the parcel and where it should come from?

Yes i can.

They should come from a supermarket that each individual family shops in, with plenty of choice, but you can't travel to it in case you can't afford to.

It should contain food to make hot meals, but must not involve cooking in case the gas/electric has been cut off.

It cannot be cooked in a microwave because some people can't afford microwaves

It can't be processed because that's not nutritious enough but it cannot be just ingredients because some people can't cook, have baking tins, pans etc

It must be nutritious but also contain crisps etc

It must be bespoke to every fussy eater

Have i missed anything?

Today 11:48 Crumbleandcake

How can anyone think that’s okay? Do you feed your children plain pasta and plain bread? confused

No you combine it with tomatoes and herbs you have at home. Or grated cheese or wasn't there tuna in that food box? “

Yes because everyone staying in a temporary B and B with their children has a lovely pot of tomatoes, organic of course, growing on the windowsill and a selection of herbs to hand.
Don’t be obtuse. This is the only food some children receive during school holidays.
Yes, there was a dessert spoon of tuna in a small plastic bag, taken from a tin.

It's not free food. It is food paid for with actual money @HikeForward.

@Katyppp

Could someone here please post an example of what exactly they think should be in the parcel and where it should come from?

Yes i can.

They should come from a supermarket that each individual family shops in, with plenty of choice, but you can't travel to it in case you can't afford to.

It should contain food to make hot meals, but must not involve cooking in case the gas/electric has been cut off.

It cannot be cooked in a microwave because some people can't afford microwaves

It can't be processed because that's not nutritious enough but it cannot be just ingredients because some people can't cook, have baking tins, pans etc

It must be nutritious but also contain crisps etc

It must be bespoke to every fussy eater

Have i missed anything?

ODFOD. Nobody is saying anything like that and your ignorance is outstanding. Your prejudice towards FSM is quite something , ix love to know where that comes from cause it certainly isn't the real world.

As an aside , why do you keep prattling on about crisps? If anything it's the frubes getting the criticism.

[quote ineedaholidaynow]@Illy605 that is one example of a food hamper provided to English children. It is disgusting, but it is not within the guidelines.[/quote]
Yes, it is one example of a food hamper that’s been provided. Actually one of the “better” of the worst I’ve seen today. There’s been an abundance of hampers sent out to children in England that have been to this standard or worse. I’m not saying it’s within the guidelines... which is exactly why I’m stating it is disgusting. Why do companies think it is ok to send out something not within the guidelines?!

@Jellycatspyjamas

MPs don’t get an allowance for food. They can’t claim for the cost of food at all (unless they are doing parliamentary work away from both their constituency & London- which is very rare)

You said you’d like to see MPs use that list for lunches:
My DH is an MP. He makes himself packed lunches most days.
He usually has a sandwich, a piece of fruit & one other thing.
So from that list he’d have every day:
Sandwich/wrap/roll with tomatoes, cucumber and cheese/ham/egg/tuna (whichever there was)
Piece of fruit
Yoghurt on a couple of days
Water

That would leave him with
2 baking potatoes plus baked beans which he’d happily eat for his evening meal, with milk to drink. (He still likes drinking milk)
On the days without yoghurt he’d probably feel like he’d like eg a Kit Kat, and it wasn’t quite enough.

But - if I bought him that list, he’d certainly feel he has enough food for his lunches for 5 days.

[quote LatteToday]@Jellycatspyjamas

MPs don’t get an allowance for food. They can’t claim for the cost of food at all (unless they are doing parliamentary work away from both their constituency & London- which is very rare)

You said you’d like to see MPs use that list for lunches:
My DH is an MP. He makes himself packed lunches most days.
He usually has a sandwich, a piece of fruit & one other thing.
So from that list he’d have every day:
Sandwich/wrap/roll with tomatoes, cucumber and cheese/ham/egg/tuna (whichever there was)
Piece of fruit
Yoghurt on a couple of days
Water

That would leave him with
2 baking potatoes plus baked beans which he’d happily eat for his evening meal, with milk to drink. (He still likes drinking milk)
On the days without yoghurt he’d probably feel like he’d like eg a Kit Kat, and it wasn’t quite enough.

But - if I bought him that list, he’d certainly feel he has enough food for his lunches for 5 days.[/quote]
Let's not pretend MPs don't live the good life when it comes to expenses.